Quality • 3 mins read
UKAS Chief Executive Matt Gantley joined international leaders at the 2026 TIC (Testing, Inspection and Certification) Summit to explore how accreditation and the wider Quality Infrastructure can keep pace with a rapidly changing world, with trust remaining at the heart of innovation.
Brussels provided the backdrop for one of the TIC sector’s key events of the year, bringing together leaders from industry, policy and the global Quality Infrastructure community. For UKAS, the event was also an opportunity to champion the vital role of accreditation in building confidence, supporting innovation and helping society respond to rapid change.
The summit focused on a key question: as geopolitics, technology, energy systems and trade continue to shift, how do we make sure innovation remains trusted? Across the day’s discussions, one message came through strongly — trust does not happen by accident. It is built through robust standards, effective conformity assessment and strong accreditation; all working together to give businesses, regulators and the public confidence in products and services.
Speaking to delegates about the future of the global Quality Infrastructure, Matt set out both the scale of the challenge and the opportunity ahead. His message was clear: the world is changing fast and the systems that underpin trust must evolve with it. Accreditation, standards, metrology and conformity assessment cannot operate in isolation if they are to remain relevant in a more connected, complex and digital world.
Matt said: “We are facing a bend in the road. Technologically, politically, environmentally and societally, the world is changing quickly. The challenge for all of us is to be prepared to travel in the same direction.”
It was a powerful call for the sector to think collectively about what comes next and how the global Quality Infrastructure can stay fit for the future rather than trying to catch up after the fact.
That future was a major theme throughout the day, especially in discussions around artificial intelligence. Delegates explored how AI is already changing the landscape for assurance, posing new questions about transparency, accountability, bias and risk. At the same time, it is opening up opportunities to modernise Quality Infrastructure itself — from smarter standards to better use of data and more responsive systems of oversight.
In his address, Matt highlighted an important shift in how conformity assessment is understood. While compliance remains essential, the sector is increasingly being asked to do more: to help organisations manage future risk, strengthen resilience and build confidence in emerging technologies before problems arise. In practical terms, that means moving beyond retrospective checks towards more predictive, real-time and risk-based approaches — always grounded in competence, impartiality and integrity.
There was also strong agreement at the Summit that the Quality Infrastructure community needs to speak with greater clarity and confidence about the value it brings to society. Too often, the work that underpins trust in safety, quality and fair trade happens behind the scenes. Events like the TIC Summit matter because they bring that invisible infrastructure into view and show how essential it is to industrial resilience, competitiveness and public confidence.
In this period of rapid change, UKAS’s role safeguarding trust in conformity assessment has never been more important. If society is to embrace innovation with confidence, it needs assurance systems that are agile, aligned and fit for the future.